A Secret Life
by BooksbyMoonlight
Summary: It is not a secret that the Potter and Weasly families hate Slytherin, so when Albus is sorted into the house he decides to keep it from a big part of his family. Through the years Albus becomes at home in Slytherin, but the secrets keep piling up. How long will he be able to keep these secrets and what does Scorpius Malfoy have to do with all this? Albus/Scorpius ON HOLD
1. The Sorting

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the OCs and the plot. This disclaimer is for the whole story.**

* * *

"SLYTHERIN"

Albus just sat there in seconds of agonizing silence. How was it that after minutes of begging the hat had still decided that Albus belonged in Slytherin. There was no way it was true. It had to be a mistake.

Slowly he stood up and made his way to the table his whole family despised. With every step he took, a scenario of how his life would fall apart played through his head. This was not good. Was this a dream? _Please let it just be a dream._

At the same time some of the people at the Gryffindor table started protesting. A lot of these people had known Albus before coming to Hogwarts and thought of him as one of the kindest, most polite boys they had ever met, even though he was a bit quiet.

They had no idea that this was one of the things that influenced the choice of the sorting hat. It had thought that the boy would have more space to grow and flourish away from his family. Albus might have seemed nice, but he could be so much more. He had subconsciously used his niceness as a mask. Albus was different from his family. Even though he had always known this, it was difficult to admit.

While Albus found a place with the other Slytherin first years, the bigmouthed Gryffindors were silenced and the sorting ceremony continued.

"So," a girl next to him started, "don't you have a Weasly mother? How come you're not in Gryffindor?"

Albus had expected that the Slytherins would hate Gryffindor even more than the Gryffindors hated them, but there was not even an inch of despise in this girl's voice. She just seemed confused and maybe somewhat curious.

"I don't know myself, really", Albus answered.

The rest of the eleven year olds didn't question his answer. Instead they watched the rest of the sorting ceremony. Rose Weasly, Albus's cousin, was sorted into Gryffindor, which meant he was the only member of his family until that moment that was sorted differently. Even Teddy Lupin was a Gryffindor, even though everyone expected him to be sorted into Hufflepuff.

Throughout dinner Albus slowly came out of his state of shock. He realized more than ever in what kind of position he was. He would most likely never see the Gryffindor common room, he would never battle alongside his family for the House Cup or the Inter-House Quidditch Cup. Instead he would have to live alongside bloody Slytherins. His whole family hated Slytherins with a passion and even though his father had tried to reassure Albus that he wouldn't mind him being sorted in that house, Albus didn't believe him. The boy was great at sniffing out when someone was lying, and his father had definitely had a little quiver in his voice at the platform. Maybe he wouldn't hate Albus, but be scared for him...

Albus decided that he wasn't going to tell his family members that weren't at Hogwarts in what house he was sorted. He would somehow convince everyone who knew them to keep it a secret and… Oh what a coward he was. No wonder that the hat didn't want him in Gryffindor. He still would go through with his plan though.

He decided to use the rest of dinner to get to know his fellow Slytherins. There were four other boys and three girls in his year, which were quite a lot of people. He only knew who one of the boys was. Scorpius Malfoy. He was bad news. The other boys were Gabe Goyle, Flynn O'Neal, and Benjamin Vaughn. The girl who had talked to Albus earlier was named Maeve O'Neal and was the twin sister of Flynn. The other two girls introduced themselves as Sarah Peterson and Nina Albescu, a Romanian girl.

Albus found out that the Slytherins weren't as bad as he'd initially thought. They were quite funny actually, if you liked sarcasm. He had the feeling that the O'Neal twins might just become his favourite people.

* * *

After a tour of the castle Albus went to search for his brother. He had to make sure that James didn't write a letter to his parents and tell them about his sorting as soon as possible.

He found him in a hallway that led to the main gate of the building.

"James! Wait a minute!" he called.

James turned around and stared at him in silence, obviously still not over the fact that his little brother was sorted into Slytherin.

 _Hmmph, he was the one who said it would happen_ , Albus thought. He felt guilty immediately after thinking that because James obviously had meant it as a joke. He couldn't possibly have predicted what had happened.

"Do you despise me now?" was the first thing Albus asked.

The other boy looked hurt. "Of course not Albus, I just never expected that… But you're still my brother you know! I hate Slytherin less than you think. I just wanted to scare you when I said all those awful things…"

"But the same can't be said about the rest of the family", Albus interrupted him.

After a moment of silence James agreed. "No, it can't."

"That's why they can never find out", Albus continued.

"What?" was James's reaction.

"I want to keep it from the adults. You can't write about it to them, James. It will ruin their lives. And mine. It won't hurt them if they don't know."

James protested for a bit, but when he realized Albus's mind was set, he gave in.

"Please deliver the message to the rest of our Gryffindor family. And the Scamander twins too while you're at it" was the last thing Albus said before he walked off.

"Oi! You do realize you won't be able to keep it from them forever, right?!" James called after him.

 _I know_ , Albus thought, _but I can try for as long as possible_.

* * *

"Okay," professor Slughorn answered after Albus's explanation. "I totally understand it. I'm happy you're asking me this and not to change house, because I don't think the headmaster would allow that. Just… When they do find out – which will happen eventually – I have nothing to do with it," he added with a wink.

Albus was surprised at how easily how his head of house accepted it all.

"I will, of course, make sure that professor Longbottom and Rubeus Hagrid are on board with this as well. I know they have quite a close bond with your family."

"Thank you very much, professor"

"Oh, there's no need for that boy. You're a Slytherin after all, and to be honest I do have a weakness for those eyes of yours. They're the same as the ones of your father and grandmother. You really remind me of Harry to be honest, same hair and all. He didn't have freckles though…"

Albus was already leaving. "Goodbye professor!"

At least that was taken care of. All Albus could do now was hope that the sorting hat was right and that Slytherin would become like a second home for him.


	2. A Request

**I'm very sorry about all the dialogue in this chapter. I'm also sorry for any mistakes. I'm Belgian (Dutch-speaking) so I don't normally speak English and I don't know how that beta reader thingy works so please forgive me if there are any! If you notice one, please let me know.**

* * *

It aggravated Albus how long it took him to find his way back to his common room. But what did he expect? It was his first day after all.

Since it was located in the dungeons, it had no windows. It was only lit with green fire of torches alongside the wall and in a fireplace, which made the room pretty dark. Albus could make out the edges of some different seats and small tables. He found it all quite eerie.

The young Potter went to his room to unpack. He already heard the voices of the other boys before he came in.

"You don't get it, Gabe. You're a Goyle. That means you're automatically my slave. Goyles have always been the underlings of Malfoys."

That was Scorpius.

"Sod of, Malfoy" was Gabe's reply.

Judging from his tone he was either very easily annoyed or just didn't understand sarcasm. –Or he had hated Scorpius before coming to Hogwarts. Albus wouldn't find that hard to believe after all he'd heard about the Malfoy family.

"Hey, where were you Albus?" Flynn asked when he saw the boy. The others seemed pretty curious as well.

Albus explained how much his family hated his current house and how he asked James and professor Slughorn to keep his secret.

Flynn was rolling over his bed laughing his ass off. "You… you don't really think… that you will be able… to keep all that up… do you?" he asked in between bouts of laughter.

"No, but maybe for a couple of years… This is just so I can take the time to come up with something else, and when they find out they will see that I'm still the same person. I will make sure they won't be able to say that my house had a bad influence on me."

"You can't be serious. There's a very large possibility that they will hate you even more if they find out after you've kept it a secret," Scorpius said.

This was when Albus realized Scorpius might not be as bad as everyone had told him before. The boy had just pointed out what Albus didn't want to think of and, in a way, _helped_ him. He realized that the boy was pretty smart too, since he thought of that only seconds after hearing the explanation.

"I guess you have a point," was all Albus could think of as a reply. Apart from that minor detail, he still was convinced that keeping his house a secret was the best thing to do.

Scorpius realized this as well, and didn't try to convince Albus otherwise any more. He walked away with a sigh to what Albus assumed was the bed he claimed as his own. It was located next to the door.

In the meantime, Flynn had had a chance to calm down. "Hey Albus, I've chosen a bed for you, hope you don't mind," he said pointing at the bed in between Scorpius's and his own.

Benjamin and Gabe had already occupied a bed at the other side of the room, and the only other bed left over was missing a mattress and a leg. Albus didn't have much choice but to accept to sleep next to a Malfoy. _Another thing my parents won't like_ , Albus thought.

He noticed two animals in the room apart from his own ferret. One was a toad that probably belonged to Benjamin, since it was sitting in a glass box on the boy's bed. The other one was a very hairy silver cat with white legs and big, multi-coloured eyes. Since it was casually strolling around the room Albus had no idea whose it was.

While Albus was unpacking, Benjamin and Gabe were out for a walk, Scorpius was reading and Flynn poking at Gabe's toad with his wand, the door opened with a peeping sound. It was Maeve who came in.

"What's the matter sis, did the other girls kick you out already?" Flynn asked.

"No you stupid git, I just came here for Piggy."

Flynn grinned. He obviously took 'stupid git' as a compliment, not as an insult.

"Who's Piggy?" Albus asked.

"Piggy's the cat, Flynn named him," Maeve said accusingly. Her twin brother obviously felt the need to defend himself.

"So what? She eats like a pig and makes messes like a pig, the name fits."

Maeve just snorted.

This answered Albus's question about who the owner of the cat was.

The female half of the O'Neal twins was sitting on the ground, petting Piggy. "Is that your ferret?" she asked staring at the little beast on Albus's bed. When the boy nodded she continued: "What's its name?"

"Olli, from Oliver."

"At least someone knows how to name their pet properly. Can I ask why?"

Before Albus could say something Flynn interjected: "There's no need to flirt with him, sis. Potters don't date desperate Slytherins like you." He said the word 'Potters' with faked disgust.

Albus was taken aback more than the girl. She wasn't really flirting with him, was she? Would he be interested if she was? Sure, she wasn't ugly. She had gorgeous ginger hair like a Weasly, but didn't remind him of his family apart from that. Her eyes and facial features were pointier than a Weasly and she had a big gap between her front teeth that no one in his family had. But did Albus find her attractive? Not quite.

Maeve noticed Albus's hesitation and said, "Don't worry, I wasn't flirting with you. Flynn just likes to mess with people. So why did you name your ferret Olli?"

"Just because I liked the sound of it," was his answer.

Flynn laughed. "Sis, you have to admit that my reason was better."

The girl walked out of the room and seemed to have let the door open on purpose. Nobody felt like standing up to close it.

"The common room seems a bit eerie, doesn't it?" Scorpius said.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that." Albus replied. Flynn nodded in agreement. They suddenly heard a loud voice from somewhere in the common room.

"Did you hear that, mister Prefect? Now you know what the first years think of the common room from two years ago. Now light the room properly! This green fire doesn't work well with my skin complexion."

They all laughed when they noticed the extendible ear on the flour gliding away. Through the door opening they saw the light that suddenly filled the common room, and they all stood up to take a look. The girls had apparently done the same.

The light came from hundreds of dancing silver and white lights on the ceiling and through the room. Despite white and silver not being warm colours, the light spread a subtle warmth. It created beautiful shadows on the green walls. Albus noticed that the torches were completely gone and the fire in the fireplace was a blinding white.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" said the girl that the first years heard earlier, "I'm Vanessa, fifth year. Robin is prefect this year and he had the luminous idea to see what your reactions would be on the old common room. Don't worry, it will stay like this from now on."

"Yeah, I'm sorry 'bout that," Said a dark boy with patterns shaved into his hair. "I'm Robin. Nice to meet you lot. I know Slytherin isn't a dream place to be sorted in" – he said this part looking directly into Albus's eyes – "but you'll soon find out you can count on your house in every situation. If you ever need something, just ask. We're family now."

What was up with all these Slytherins? Why did they all act so nice? They seemed intimidating, but nice. Something had to be up, this was Slytherin after all. But why did Albus feel so comfortable around them?

He looked around the room a bit more. The seats Albus saw earlier had striped silver and green patterns and the tables were mahogany. On the biggest table, placed behind a sofa, stood a vase with flowers. There was an old looking mirror in a corner. Right next to the entrance of the common room, was a bulletin board. Multiple portraits hanged on the walls. One was big and right above the fireplace. Where had Albus seen that face before…

"Hey, isn't that Merlin?"

Scorpius came with his question on the exact right moment.

"Yes, I think it is." Albus said remembering pictures from history books.

Suddenly Albus heard: "Wow"

It appeared that Gabe and Benjamin were back from their walk.

The whole group got to know each other and a few other house members some more in the next few hours and then headed to bed.

* * *

"Al, are you serious about keeping your house a secret?" Rose Weasly had just stormed into the great hall and had come directly to Albus at the Slytherin table. This caused for more than just a few evil stares.

"Yeah, _Al_ " Maeve said with a grin. She was definitely going to use this nickname, and from the look on her brother's face, Albus knew she wasn't the only one.

"Yes. This is my decision, so I hope that you respect it." Albus answered.

"Oh merlin, you're really doing it! I thought James was kidding! This is so exciting! I can't wait to see where this is going! I wonder how exactly you're going to fail…"

"Gee, thanks for having so much faith in me Rose." Albus said.

"Be happy I'm willing to keep it quiet, some others needed a lot more convincing than me, Albus. Like Fred, he was already writing about you in his letter."

"Okay. I'm sorry… and thank you."

Rose smiled and for a second it looked like she would turn around and go to the Gryffindor table, but then she leaned forward to Albus's ear. She whispered so that only he could hear him. "Do me a favour, will you? Don't get to chummy with the Malfoy boy. You know he's on a whole other level of despicableness than the rest of the Slytherins."

Albus nodded, unsure that he would be able to fulfil her wish. Scorpius couldn't be that bad, could he?

When Rose walked off Maeve whispered loudly: "What did she say?"

Albus cracked a smile.

"That's a secret."


	3. Mail

Many other members of Albus's family, besides Rose, came to talk to Albus in the next few days. A lot of them warned him to stay away from Scorpius or another Slytherin they had problems with. Albus always told them what they wanted to hear, but was planning to decide for himself to whom he would talk.

He was becoming close friends with the O'Neal twins and talked a lot to some older Slytherins as well. He learned very fast that while most people in his house were actually friendly, they didn't act that way to the rest of the school. It was like they all got a free mask to go with their Slytherin robes. Albus even caught himself acting differently around people from other houses.

"You're going to be really fat in a few months if you keep eating like that," Flynn told his sister.

"No I'm not, I don't know if you've noticed, but you're the fatter one," Maeve replied.

"What? That's not true. I might be heavier, but I'm also taller so it doesn't matter…"

Albus laughed. Another thing he's learned was that these two were always like that. They were really alike, no matter what they said. The only real difference, besides gender, was their hair. While Maeve's hair was ginger, Flynn's was a colour on the border of blond and brown. Oh, they also had different teeth, both bad, but in a different manner.

The hall was still filling up with students for breakfast, even though it had already started a half hour ago. One of the latecomers was Scorpius. He often slept in. When he sat down at the table no one made an attempt to talk to him. They've made that mistake already. He obviously wasn't a morning person.

"Seems like mail's here," Nina, one of the Slytherin first years, mumbled through her food.

At least a hundred owls were flying around in the Great Hall, searching for the right person.

Albus noticed the owl from his parents, Hedwig II, quite fast, because she was flying a lot lower and slower than the other owls. She seemed to be carrying multiple letters and a big package. She dropped the package where James sat, along with a letter. She then made her way to some members of the Weasly-clan before searching for Albus. She seemingly had a hard time finding him. At last she dropped a letter in front of the Potter boy.

Albus was curious to what was in the package for James. He waited with opening his own letter to find out. When he saw the look on his brother's face and caught a glimpse of a shimmering substance, he knew what it was. His brother had gotten his father's invisibility cloak, and perhaps also the Marauder's Map. Albus felt a tinge of jealousy. But what could he do? James was the older one anyways. And maybe his parents had told James in his letter that he would have to share it.

Maeve snapped him back to the Slytherin table. "Albus, if you're not opening your letter, I am going to do it."

"Thank you, but I'd rather open it myself." Albus used a knife on the table to rip the envelope open.

 _Dear Albus,_

 _You're father, Lily and I already miss you with our whole heart._

 _The house is slowly becoming emptier and emptier. First your grandparents move out, then James and now you! In two years Lily will be going to Hogwarts too…_

 _Luckily Teddy can visit the house more now. He just started his training as an Auror with Harry. Teddy misses you too; He says it's a shame that he just ended…_

"Could you please stop reading along over my shoulder, Maeve."

"Sure, Al. I'm sorry." She returned to eating her sandwich.

… _He says it's a shame that he just ended school when you start it. He wants you to know you can always write him when something's up._

 _How were your first days?_

 _Lily desperately wants to know how the sorting ceremony went. Were you sorted in Gryffindor? If not, what house did you get sorted in?_

 _Much love,_

 _Your proud mother,_

 _Ginny Potter_

Crap. His mother had asked him about his house. Albus had thought that he would be able to avoid the subject and just insinuate that he was sorted into Gryffindor without actually having to lie.

Would he still be able to do that?

* * *

Albus threw another piece of parchment scribbled with ink in the bin and took a new sheet with a sigh.

"Why the hell are you wasting so much parchment. It's getting on my nerves," Scorpius said. He was reading in a sofa near Albus in the common room.

"I suddenly have forgotten how to write a proper letter to my mom." Albus answered.

"Why? Does it have anything to do with a certain secret?"

Albus was annoyed with how good the other boy was at reading him.

"You know about that letter I got this morning, right? Well, my mom asked me straight out in what house I was sorted. I can't find away around the question."

Scorpius snorted. "Are you stupid or something? Of course she would ask that. And you have to answer it, because it would be suspicious if you don't. Just lie."

Albus was quiet for a few seconds. He had never lied to his parents up to that moment. But Scorpius had a point. Knowing his mother, she would definitely notice if he didn't straight out lie. If he really wanted to go through with his secret, he had to be prepared to wear a bulletproof mask at all times. He would have to lie and deceive a lot more just a few words in a letter. Was he ready to cross that border and give in to his inner Slytherin? Well, he was already in the right house for that.

"Okay," said Albus.

Scorpius looked up from his book. "What?"

"I said okay. I'll do it. I'll lie."

Scorpius just snorted again. He had already been expecting this.

"Would you… would you proofread my letter for me when I'm done writing?" Albus asked hesitantly.

Scorpius thought about this for a few seconds. "Alright."

Albus took one of the floating lights in the room and let it shine on his new piece of parchment.

* * *

 _Dear mum, dad, Lily (and Teddy)_

 _I'm sorry to hear about your loneliness. I'm missing you too. But thank Merlin for Teddy! Give him my regards._

 _My first few days at Hogwarts have been great! I've made a few friends already and everyone is super friendly._

 _I bet you've already guessed it. I was sorted into GRYFFINDOR! Surprise!_

 _You should seriously consider stopping letting uncle Ron and uncle George use Hedwig II, she looked exhausted when I saw her in the Great Hall._

 _Much love,_

 _Al_

"That'll do. I particularly liked the part where you wrote: 'Surprise!'"

"Thanks. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take this to the owlery." Albus took the letter from Scorpius.

"Wait a second, I'm coming with you! I have a letter that needs to be send as well." That surprised Albus. He hadn't seen the blond boy write a letter, even though they both had been in the common room since classes ended.

"I wrote it yesterday, but wasn't sure if I should send it," Scorpius explained when he saw the confused look on Albus's face.

The two young Slytherins didn't talk much on their way to the owlery. Scorpius seemed totally fine with it, but Albus was nervous. Nervous because he was alone with a boy who he'd been warned about his whole life, nervous because someone in his family would see them, nervous about his new secret. After he would send the letter, there was no turning back. Luckily for Albus, nobody of his family, or anybody who was close to his family, had seen them.

 _Scorpius can't be that bad,_ the Potter boy thought, _He's been helping me._

When the two boys arrived they were happy (or at least Albus was) to see that nobody, apart from the owls, was there. Albus noticed that Bert, James's owl, was gone. That meant James had already written their parents back. A tinge of anxiety shot through Albus. What if James's story didn't add up with his own? He seriously hoped that James kept his promise and didn't tell his parents about him being in Slytherin.

Albus noticed Scorpius didn't use one of the school owls for his letter. He used a barn owl.

"Is that your own owl?" Albus asked.

"Yes. I named him Wolf, because he's as strong as a wolf."

Albus grinned. "First Piggy, now Wolf. What do all these people have with naming their animals after _other_ animals."

Scorpius shot the boy an annoyed look.

* * *

Albus received another letter from his parents the next Saturday.

 _Thank you for the letter Albus,_

 _You were right about Hedwig II. Ron and George should just use their OWN owls for mail to Hogwarts. Or they could ask Bill._

 _I'm happy everything is going well for you at school. I just hope you're not keeping anything from me. If anything bad happens or you're being bullied, you would tell me, right?_

 _Have you lied to me in your last letter, Albus? Or is James lying? Your brother told me you were sorted into Hufflepuff. Just know that nobody would mind it if you were._

 _Please tell me?_

 _Much love,_

 _Mum/Ginny Potter_

James had done WHAT? A wave of rage ran through Albus's body. He looked around the Great Hall until he locked his eyes on his brother. He was by his side with only a few big strides.

"You told mum and dad I was sorted into _Hufflepuff_?"

James looked surprised at the anger that flowed through Albus's voice. "Yeah. So what. You're, most of the time, nice, and you always do what everyone asks of you. You must admit that you would fit in Hufflepuff. What's the problem with it."

Albus couldn't believe how dense his brother was being. "The problem is that I told them I was sorted into Gryffindor. Like the rest of the family."

"Oh," was James's first reaction. "I'm so sorry Albus."

The younger boy suddenly got an idea. "I'll only forgive you if you make it up to me."

James didn't know were this was going and whether or not he would like what his brother had in mind. He was more than a little suspicious. "How?"

"You need to lend me your invisibility cloak whenever I want without questioning me." Albus said.

"You sneaky little…" James started to see why the sorting hat had put the other boy in Slytherin. He obviously had watched James when he opened his package. The older Potter was happy Albus didn't ask for his Marauder's Map. He decided the deal was fair enough. "Alright."

The two brothers shook hands, and before Albus left to his own table he said, "and just to be clear, from now on we will tell our parents I was sorted into Gryffindor."

Later that day Albus sent a letter back to his parents explaining that James was joking. His parents would definitely believe him since that was nothing out of the ordinary.


	4. Room of Requirement

**Hello! I really hope you are enjoying this story so far! Please write a review to let me know what you think of it, what you'd like me to change or anything else you want to say. I could really use some feedback.**

* * *

A little over a month had past since Albus's first day at Hogwarts. The boy had lent his brother's invisibility cloak more than was good for him. He used it to explore the school at night. That's also the reason why he hadn't asked his brother for the Marauder's Map, even though he'd had a suspicion James had it in his possession. He thought it was much more fun to discover new places on his own pace than to follow the map.

After a few nights of exploring, Flynn started to notice Albus's absence from his bed. Since then they did the exploring together. For a long time, it was just the two of them, but one night that changed.

While Gabe, Benjamin and Scorpius were already sleeping, the two of them took their wands and the cloak, along with a book of spells for emergencies. Hidden under the cloak, they tried to manoeuvre themselves outside the room as silent as possible, but Flynn was stupid enough to stumble over his own feet and took Albus along in his fall. They hit the flour with a loud thud.

They quickly looked around if anyone was awake, but apart from Benjamin letting out a loud snore, nothing had changed, or so they thought.

"What on earth are you two to planning to do?"

The one who asked this was a very awake Scorpius.

"Shit," Flynn whispered.

Albus took the blond and his best friend to the common room to talk, afraid that the other boys would wake up as well. Most of the lights had disappeared. The room was only very subtly lit by twenty-something remaining lights.

"Take me with you," Scorpius said to the two boys when they were done explaining what they were doing up at that hour.

Albus and Flynn looked at each other with surprise. Scorpius had struck them as someone who would think nightly strolls without a real goal were stupid, like he wouldn't want to break the rules without an actual reason.

Scorpius was bored by their reaction. He just wanted to come along in case they walked upon something interesting.

That was how three Slytherins, crammed under one invisibility cloak, ended up finding the Room of Requirement.

"Come on, why haven't we found something interesting by now?" whispered Scorpius with a tad of anger.

"We just… need to search harder, " Albus replied.

"Let's see if we can find something in this hallway one more time," Flynn said, pulling the other two back two where they came from.

"This'll never work! We've walked this hall three times already!" Scorpius was getting really sick of having two idiots in his personal space.

"Was this door here before?" Flynn asked.

When they were all certain it hadn't been there before, they agreed to enter it. The mysterious door clicked open without much trouble. Behind it was a room filled with al sorts of stuff, most of it unknown to the boys. At first they were studying the stuff extensively and picking things up and touching them, but when Flynn's hand nearly went up in flames they retreated to just looking at it.

"Guys, I think I know what this place is." Albus took the other two outside the room, walked passed it three times and walked back in. The room had changed to an ice skating rink.

"Wow," Flynn said.

"So what is this place, Albus?" The young Potter had gotten Scorpius curious.

Albus was smiling broadly. "This is the Room of Requirement. I've heard my dad talk about it when I was younger. It only appears when people really need it. It changes depending on what you need."

"But why did it show itself for us? We didn't exactly need a room full of stuff we had no use of." Flynn was nearly breaking his brain to find the answer. Scorpius found it quite funny, since the answer was clear.

"We needed to find something interesting, you idiot. A room suddenly showing itself full of mysterious stuff suffices. But why did it change in an ice skating rink the second time? How exactly did you need this, Albus?"

"I really needed an explanation, so I asked the room to turn into an ice skating rink to show I was right."

"You _asked_ it" Flynn had a hard time wrapping his head around the concept.

* * *

All three of the boys were happy to have found the room, but they had no idea of what to do with the knowledge of its existence. That's why they didn't go back there more than once in the next week or so.

Flynn and Albus did show the room to Maeve though. Her reaction was very similar to her brother's; her head was filled with questions about it.

"So you don't have to actually really need the room? You can just sort of tell the room you need it, trick it so to speak, and it will show itself?" she asked Albus on the way to their next class.

"I think so, yes." The boy answered.

When his brother walked passed, he smiled. He was fairly certain he had found a place his brother, who probably owned the Marauder's Map, had no idea about.

Scorpius had caught bits of the conversation of his two housemates. "It's one thing to intentionally tell about the room to another person, but it's a whole other thing to just openly talk about it for everyone to hear."

"Sorry," the two said in sync. Albus felt a sudden guilt because he and Flynn hadn't asked Scorpius if it was okay to tell Maeve.

Like most of the time, Scorpius could see right through Albus. He leaned into Albus to whisper something in his ear. "I don't mind that you told Maeve, she's a friend. Just be more careful in public. You don't want to feel like an idiot when the whole school suddenly knows about it. Let's just keep the room our little secret." When Albus nodded he ran to Benjamin to ask him something.

While Scorpius was talking to Albus in such a… weird… manner, the young Potter had felt some sort of tingling feeling rushing through him. His heart seemed to be pounding thirty times harder then normally against the inside of his chest, and he needed a few seconds to find his breath again before he could walk on. He seriously hoped his face wasn't as red as a tomato.

"Come on! We're going to be late for potions!" Scorpius called with a big smirk on his face. Did he know what kind of effect he had on the Potter boy? Did Albus even know for himself?

 _It's just the nerves,_ Albus tried to convince himself, _I'm nervous in case anyone will see I don't hate Scorpius as much as they'd like me to._

At least the boy'd realized that he didn't hate Scorpius.


End file.
